France Confirms Lyon-Turin High Speed LinkFrench prime minister Raffarin confirmed to Italian premier Berlusconi France's commitment to build the Lyon-Turin high speed line, loosening the strained relationships between both countries due to French procrastination and "wait-and-see" behaviour. France ordered last year an audit on transport infrastructure. The report, released earlier this year, recommended to delay the project, triggering anger and disappointment in Italy. Doubts seem now to be lifted and the project should move forward.Lyon Turin Ferroviaire (LTF) has finalised the draft design of the international base tunnel across the Alps. The 52.7 km base tunnel will be dug at 550 m above sea level and will consist of two parallel tubes, each with a 43 sq m cross section. Its maximum gradient is 6.5‰ on the French territory and 8.4‰ in Italy. The 12 km Bussoleno tunnel will have a maximum gradient of 12.4‰. A technical station will be built in Modane, halft-way on the alignment. Other tunnels to be driven are the Chartreuse tunnel, the Belledonne tunnel, the Rocheray tunnel on the French side and the Bussoleno, Gravio and Musine tunnels in Italy. Two ventilation shafts will be built in Avrieux near Modane and Val Clarea in Italy. The base tunnel will be mainly bored using 12 TBMs, each 10 m in diameter. About 25% of the excavated material will be recycled into concrete aggregates and backfill. The Bussoleno tunnel alone will generate 15 million cubic metres of spoil. Twenty-two almost simultaneous drives are planned to reduce as much as possible the time required to build the tunnels, which should take six years and four months. The Lyon-Turin high speed link is for freight and passenger traffic. Construction is scheduled to take nine years for opening planned in 2012-2015. Its cost is estimated at €6.65 billion (January 2003 value).Meanwhile, work is continuing at the 4 km intermediate access in Modane and just started at the 2,050 m access at Saint-Martin-la-Porte. Construction has yet to start at the 2,650 m La Praz access adit in France and the 10 km Venaus exploratory tunnel in Italy. Visit www.ltf-sas.com/fr/avantprojetsommaire.htm for the full draft study in French. 26/03.